It’s been a while, but real life intervenes. If anyone is interested in paying me a regular salary to do this podcast, contact me and we’ll talk; otherwise, I’m afraid that it has to go on the back burner when other obligations get in the way. Still, apologies to listeners; I’ve worked out some of the bugs and hope to have a more regular updating schedule going forward.
I am a firm believer that the ideal length for this podcast is about ninety minutes per episode. You’ll notice that this episode is almost two and a half hours long and is labelled “Part 1.” This is a symptom of something that podcasters call “Dan Carlin syndrome.” In my defense, I think that this story is just too good to cut short. Yes, I could tell Wilde’s tale in a more condensed format, but which parts would I leave out?
Anyway, a word about the story: Oscar Wilde was, without a doubt, a genius. He would also, without a doubt, be the first person to tell you that he was a genius. But sometimes the smartest people can do the stupidest things, and Wilde was no exception. It’s an almost perfect Grecian tragedy (and part of me suspects that Wilde would have had it no other way) as Wilde squares off against the “screaming scarlet Marquess” of Queensbury, a belligerent ex-boxer. At the height of Wilde’s success the poet and the pugilist are on a collision course over Wilde’s relationship with Queensbury’s son, and their conflict will culminate in a series of trials that (spoiler alert) leave Wilde a broken man.
What could possibly drive Wilde, a brilliant man, into starting a legal battle that he could never have won, a battle that could only have resulted in his ruin? Start here with Part 1 to find out.
Trials and Errors 
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